Does the Bible teach Hatred or Love?

Does the Bible teach Hatred or Love?

I was at church last night and I had a really bad sleep because of the message that was taught by our deacon. This is my childhood church, I have been going to this church since grade two, and have been exposed to Catholic doctrine all my life. Although I understand what the teacher was saying, I think he missed the message of Jesus while he was interpreting Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple."

Taken literally that would mean that instead of fostering love in my relationships with other people I foster hatred. This is the problem I used to run into with a lot of evangelicals when Christians take this verse literally to foster hatred and bigotry in their heart. The doctrine of justification by faith is used as an excuse to not take the other teachings of Jesus literally and creates an environment of fear, where God's presence is pushed out of His church, and opens the door for man centered theology. In essence man becomes his own God, and need no longer respect and live in the presence and Grace of God. The saints knew that to go the Heaven we must not hate anyone.

When the bible talks about hating people it means we must prefer to be separated from all men and women, of course Heaven will be filled with people who chose God over earthly success, in order to be fully united to God. All it means is that God is to be our first love, but to tell the congregation to hate everyone is a sin against love. The bible also says "Love your neighbour as yourself" and unless you hate yourself you cannot become a Christian, but hating yourself means you love God more than you love yourself!

I know a lot of christians take this verse literally because they feel justified that their hatred for others qualifies them for God's love, but what they haven't learned yet is that no one qualifies for God's love because God's love is unconditional. The church has a really hard time accepting and showing unconditional love because of that damnation thing, and I just want to say that God loves everyone and His plan is that people who love God would live holy lives and live in His Presence, not apart from God.

The bible teaches that the highest form of self-expression is love. This is Mike. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.)

Comments

On Christian Marriage. (Short)

On Christian Marriage. (Short) The modern co-habitation crisis has produced a lot of single moms and dads, and has fractured "family units" allowing other family members and relatives to take a bigger role in these "Separated families." There isn't a "one cause" why families have separated or divorced, it is a complicated issue, sometimes resulting in very hard emotions for Society to process. Things like the "millennial sexual revolution" have contributed to the widespread "non-committal" attitude, which in turn has given the traditional marriage the "black eye" it currently has and has turned many Christian men away from seeking a life partner. The more society devalues "traditional marriage" the more co-habitation you will see in all the other generations as well as the Millennials. This is Mike.

Why Christians must show Mutual Concern for One another.

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. Psalm 142:4. Christians in the church should have mutual concern for one another, this is what it means to be part of the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:25. It’s takes good pastoral leadership to foster this sense of concern, and where it is missing, individuals who are suffering in the church are overlooked and not supported. Every believer needs support and encouragement, but when this is missing, the church divides and loses it power and testimony. Christians live like the world, and become vulnerable to Satan’s attacks when nobody is supporting them outside the church. I used to belong to an evangelical church which had great leadership, and something called small groups. This church felt like a family and I had people who shared my Christian walk with me when I was not in the church building. I have been attending a different denomination that doesn’t hav...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

Search This Blog